Bikes should be faster since you can change the center of gravity. For most cars on the corners i believe the main problem is body roll which causes the center of gravity to swing out and therefore losing traction. On the bike you can counter the body roll

 

My GT model came with RE050s that were better than I expected...especially after all the bad things I heard about the 40s. The Nismo suspension is ridiculously predictable...the body roll is so minimal and the car barely dips when I brake. Even better, the ride quality is hardly compromised. It feels completely different, but in a good way. The Nismo suspension only lowered the car .6" or so, so it's doesn't give it as aggressive a stance as I would have desired. Although it's nice not to have to worry about bottoming out.

 

Well if you compare lap times at tracks very high-end cars can lap faster than a bike because they have more grip. But I'm talking heavily modded cars & the prototypes. MotoGP bikes are extremely fast machines in the corners and straights. Nothing beats the F1 cars around a track though.

 

http://www.7digital.com/shops/assets/fifthgear/lamb.asp

 

Bikes r always faster around the corners with the exception of about 3-5 supercars cars made in the world. I'm glad to see people finally chiming in on the Z's handling capabilities rather than mashing the gas in a straight line! However, modifiy your suspension and you'll be even more impressed. IMHO - the stock suspension blows! And if you get really serious, I suggest an upgraded LSD, coilovers (HKS, Zeal, Cusco) (Teins r made for comfort + daily driving and not reccommended if you enjoy hardcore twisties on a daily basis), sway bars, and last but not least + most overlooked suspension mod of all time: Nismo Heim Joint Drop End Links!

 

I love the handling. Neutral balanced and when you unddersteer, apply a bit of extra throttle!

I can't wait to do sways and springs/shocks.

 

For the most part, I think my '06 with Nismo wheels and Pirelli P Zero's handles great. But, on some higher speed sweepers with the suspension loaded up (moderately) the rear end will kick up and twitch a bit when going over a road expansion joint. Feels like bump steer to me and causes me to hesitate blasting around corners on unfamilar roads. Probably a good thing I've had two sportbikes and if someone was chasing me, and I had a choice between my Z and a sportbike, I'd take the Z. But, I'm not Rossi or Britton so...

 

I still take my turns slower than I probably could until I get onto a track

 

Many tests have been done to measure sport bikes versus sport cars.

Sport bikes won't be able to pull more Gs than say a 911. Any smart rider won't even try to find the actually grip limit of his bike as it will mostly endup in a crash.

Tight twisties are even worst for the bike as the rider needs to make big transitions to steer the bike. The driver just turns the wheel.

I've had sport bikes. I've chased sports bike with my punny Impreza 2.5RS. Never had any probleme keeping up in the twisties.

Bikes are fast comming into and getting out of corners because of the power to weight ratio.

Anyway. Back on topic, the Z is pretty well balanced. A good set of street tires will help her a lot.

 

i can see where you are going with F1's but again we are talking about production cars vs bikes we see on the street. and i can assure you that most bikes with good tires will out corner us easily as soon as they come around the apex

you can read this thread.

http://www.puresportscar.com/forums/...ead.php?t=2379

 

I guess I always got stuck behind looser riders while driving ma Suby !

 

It would be interesting to have the actual telemetry data from a bike and a car on the same race track.

Taking into account lap time as an absolute indicator of handling is silly IMO. I know people that lap with Z06 and other with SpecMiata. The Z06 is 10 seconds faster at MidOhio. Yet, who here would dare say the Z06 out handles the light Miata?

Everybody agrees a bike needs a much better power to weight ratio to match a car’s pace. Where does the car’s advantage come from then???? Do you guys really think a 400lb bike with 40hp (200hp/ton, same as the Z) would keep up with a Z on a race track?

No a bike can’t out handle a car. It will end up being faster because of the stupid/silly power ratio.

 

i was thinking about going with the hotckis tvs how is that compared to the nismo setup. ...it looks almost identical if not better with the drop so suspension heads chime in

 

Lol,

Just for fun, I’ve figured the power/weight ratio of a Yamaha R1 with rider (rounded to 600lb and 180hp) is about 600hp/ton.

My Z in “track mode”, with me in it, weight 3,413lb. So I’d need a tad over 1,000hp to get the same power/weight ratio… That would be sweet!

 

I don't really follow what you're saying. A sporbike's power-to-weight ratio is WAY better than a sportscar. The GSXR1000 weighs around 400lbs and produces 160hp. If you have any doubts about a sportbikes speed check out a MotoGP race on the Speed Channel or attend a MotoGP race in person and you'll be convinced. I bet if you've never ridden a sportbike and you hopped on a GSXR1000 you'd probably **** yourself from the extreme amounts of acceleration. A MotoGP bikes weights aroulnd 320-350lbs and can produce more than 220hp fairly easily. Matter of fact I'm sure the MotoGP bikes produce more HP to the wheel than the Z and they only weigh around 320lbs!!!! They are INSANE MACHINES.

Motorcycles require more skill to operate than a car does. Cars have so many gizmos and gadgets like powersteering, traction control, ABS, not to mention 4 tires on all corners for balance A motorcycle racer's brain is his traction control device which requires a tremendous amount of focus. That's why the average guy you see riding a sportbike down the street sucks...I don't care if he can wheelie for 5 city blocks if he doesn't have vast track experience he is uncapable or pushing the bike anywhere near its limits.

In 1999 I used to ride around Chicago with a few CCS semi-pro racers who were crazy/stupid enough not to keep all their talent on the track (I'm not going to mention their names - one of them actually got fairly popular and scored a AMA ride). We used to turn LakeShore Drive into the Isle of Man TT**at about 2am....any cars that were out(including cops) were passed so fast on the straights and corners that I'm really not even sure if they saw anything but a blur. There were Corvettes, Vipers, etc that would try to keep pace from time to time and they couldn't hang with the semi-pro racers up front...however they could keep close to the average street guys in the back. All I'm saying is that an expereinced sportbike racer will MAKE YOU LOOK SILLY in your sportscar. Unless you have your own private F1 car it's really no contest. I just can't think of a production car that you can buy right now that'll out handle today's sportbikes ridden by a **compentent** rider.

** - for those that don't know what the Isle of Man is & and too lazy to google it's basically motorcycle races held on sanctioned off public roads on an island "Isle of Man"

 

I'm down here in Florida. What's a canyon?

 

Link to these and what do they do for you? I've never heard of them...

 

Reading at least the last phrase I wrote in the comment you’ve quoted should have been enough to spare you the time of writing your post…

Bikes ARE faster than cars. But it is NOT because they can out handle a car (the main subject of discussion in this double topic since the beginning was HANDLING), it’s because they have insane power to weight ratio. About 600hp/ton vs the puny 200hp/ton of a Z…

A car will carry more speed in a corner because it has better handling. The bike will out brake the car (in the dry at least) and out accelerate it in the following straight.

I know MotoGP. The Honda 500 two stroke bikes weighted 137kg, had 250hp and would wheelie in sixth no problem.

I’ve owned (as in being the proprietor) sports bikes too. That was also in my previous posts.

And I have a quadriplegic former motorcycle racer as co-worker to remind me of how things work when you run out of grip.

 

I havent ridden on a moto yet, but driving through the roads of deception pass is pretty fun. There are curves posted at 30-40 mph and its fun doing it at 60 and controlling the apex of each curve. I have stock tires + stock suspension, but its good enought to handle the job. I might be upgrading to nismo suspesion just so dont feel all those damn bumps.

 

Yes I do. Came back from a mountain trip 4 days ago and still have remnants of the adrenaline rush the curves provided. For the first time ever, I felt like I was living a video game.